Here are some of the Academy’s featured speakers and faculty members:
Rick Rendon Founder, Empower Peace; Co-Founder, The Rendon Group
Mr. Rendon is the Founder of Empower Peace and Senior Partner of The Rendon Group, a Boston/Washington DC-based communications firm that specializes in public affairs campaigns.
Empower Peace was founded on the premise that young people, through communication and the promotion of cultural understanding, could help pave the way for peace. Mr. Rendon holds strong to the belief that our future generation has the ability to create change and that they hold the key to breaking down the cultural barriers that threaten to divide the Western, Muslim and Arab worlds.
Throughout his career, Mr. Rendon has taken great pride in creating and developing innovative community-based initiatives and social campaigns. Working with community leaders and activists,Mr. Rendon helped create and organize the world’s largest school-based racial harmony campaign. For seven years “TEAM HARMONY” brought together over 15,000 middle and high school students from throughout New England to discuss the issues of hatred and prejudice and to develop programs to promote diversity and harmony in schools and communities region wide. Team Harmony’s keynote speakers have included former United States President Bill Clinton, United States Senator, former First Lady and presently candidate for President of the United States, Hillary Clinton, former United States Attorney General Janet Reno, and the Reverend Bernice King (daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Mr. Rendon was also the creator and co-founder of the school-based program, “UNITED WE STAND FOR AMERICA”. This program was developed post 9/11 to provide youth with an opportunity to express their emotions and feelings in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Students throughout Massachusetts were recruited to create individual messages of peace, hope, and patriotism on six-inch tiles of red, white and blue fabric. This fabric was then assembled to create a giant quilt of an American flag (nearly half the size of a football field). Over 700 schools and 50,000 students participated in this program.
Mr. Rendon, working with the Islamic Society of Boston, the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, and the Governor’s Task Force on Hate Crimes, developed the “OUTNUMBER THE HATE” campaign. This Massachusetts school-based campaign encouraged students to rally against hate, prejudice and intolerance experienced by Muslim and Arabs in the United States post-9/11. In response to the 1,700 hate crimes reported against Muslims and Arabs living in America, Massachusetts’ students responded by creating OVER 1,700 messages of respect, diversity and tolerance.
In addition to over thirty years of experience as a senior communications consultant, Mr. Rendon served previously as a Public Information Officer for the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and as a member of United States President Jimmy Carter’s national political staff.
Kevin Ballen Director, ENGAGE, Be The Change, Inc.
Kevin Ballen is the Director of ENGAGE, an initiative of the national nonprofit Be The Change, Inc. ENGAGE is focused on ensuring that all youth in the Greater Boston area grow up to become confident, connected, and contributing community members through providing resources and support for educators, youth workers, and parents. Kevin started doing this work when he was 14 - building programs, empowering all youth to take charge in changing their own life and the lives of others. Before ENGAGE, he worked in the Boston Mayor's Office focused on this vision from a government perspective. Right now, Kevin is interested in transforming service from a transactional checkbox to a more meaningful avenue and pushing disgruntled people to translate their emotions into action.
Janell Burley Hofmann International Author, Speaker and Consultant
Janell Burley Hofmann is an international author, speaker and consultant specializing on the topics of technology, media, health, relationships and well-being. Janell is the creator of the original iPhone contract and a thought leader in the space of digital mindfulness, digital parenting and intentional use of tech. She is the author of the book, iRules: What Every Tech-Healthy Family Needs to Know About Selfies, Sexting, Gaming and Growing Up published by Rodale, Inc. Janell is the founder of the Slow Tech Movement and iRules Academy.
Janell has worked on four continents across diverse demographics, cultures, religions, and socioeconomics. Sensitive to the needs of each community, Janell works with schools, youth, families, educators, and organizations while offering private coaching and consulting sessions. Janell’s professional expertise and personal experience as a mother of five children builds strong connections with a wide and varied population. Janell engages readers, clients and audiences in relevant and meaningful conversations igniting personal empowerment, awareness and purpose in a partnership that will positively impact all.
Janell’s academic background is in communications, media, gender, critical and creative thought. Her featured talks include two-time TEDx presenter, SxSW, YPO Southeast Asia Summit, Peace Corp Workshop Leader, Homecoming Day Nagoya University, Nagoya Japan, YPO Middle East Tour, Women2Women International Summit and MIT Strata Center. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Good Morning America, USA Today, National Public Radio, BBC News and The Associated Press.
Andrew Farnitano Account Executive, Crawford Strategies
Account Executive Andrew Farnitano first joined Crawford Strategies in 2013. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University, where he studied political science with a focus on urban and environmental policy.
He has several years of experience at the local, state, and federal level in Massachusetts, including work on electoral races, ballot questions, legislative advocacy campaigns, and major development projects. He is also an active community advocate for affordable housing, safer biking and walking, and better transit options in Boston.
Hisham Fayed Director of Marketing for HOT 96.9, Beasley Media Group
With over ten years of brand management and marketing experience, Hisham is currently the Director of Marketing for Beasley Media Group’s HOT 96.9 in Boston. Hisham oversees the overall marketing for HOT 96.9, including the station’s online and social media strategy. HOT 96.9 has one of the largest social media followings in the market, including the most liked Facebook page in Boston radio. Hisham’s experience also includes brand development, project management, event management, advertising campaigns, public relations, digital and social media marketing, website design/ maintenance, graphic design and more.
Hisham was originally born in Egypt and is fluent in Arabic. Hisham holds a Bachelor’s Degree in marketing from Franklin University and became naturalized U.S Citizen in 2015.
Andrew Frates Brother of ALS Ice Bucket Challenge pioneer, Pete Frates
Andrew lives in South Boston and is the Account Executive for Celebrity Marketing Inc, next to the TD Garden. Along with his professional life, Andrew is passionate about the mission to advance the fight against ALS. Pete Frates, Andrew’s brother, was diagnosed with ALS in March of 2012. At that time, Andrew put his career on hold to help take care of his brother and raise awareness and funds for the cause. Andrew and family members created Team FrateTrain as a community base for friends to learn, advocate, and fight for the mission of the Frates Family.
August 2014, Peter and Andrew along with their family and supporters inspired the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to go viral, raising $220 million for the ALS Association and its global partners. During that August and the months following, Andrew has done many domestic television, magazine and website interviews. He has also been speaking at many events inspiring others with their story and continuing the momentum created for their cause, ALS.
Andrew has done many media interviews, including FOX25, WCVB, WHDH, and was a featured segment on the nationally syndicated show “The Doctors” and “Greater Boston with Jim Brode”. Andrew has also been an inspirational speaker to St. John’s Prep, Franklin High School, and Salem State University.
Kaitlyn Maloney Associate Director, Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus
Kaitlyn Maloney is the Associate Director at the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus. In her role at the MWPC, she leads the organization’s social media and online engagement strategy. She uses her experience in online communication and multimedia production to promote 35 female candidates endorsed by the MWPC for municipal offices across the state. Kaitlyn manages a team of nine interns who directly support these endorsed candidates, and she was recently certified to train women to run for political office.
Kaitlyn gradated from Simmons College with a B.A. in Economics and International Relations. Throughout her college career, Kaitlyn hosted the Marketing Department’s “Woman on Campus” YouTube series for prospective students, a video series that showcases the school from a student’s perspective. In this role, she filmed and edited 40 videos totaling a collective 40,000 views, each documenting daily student life and emphasizing strategic programs and initiatives.
Kaitlyn also spent much of her time at Simmons raising awareness for intimate partner violence and sexual assault on college campuses, a topic that she became passionate about in high school. From age 16-18, she produced a 37-minute documentary for her Girl Scout Gold Award project entitled Stopping the Cycle, which featured five survivor stories and highlighted the hard work of a small NH non-profit, Bridges: Domestic & Sexual Violence Support.
Meghan K. McCoy, Ed.D. Manager of Programs, Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University
Meghan K. McCoy, Ed.D. is the Manager of Programs at the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, at Bridgewater State University. Dr. McCoy is also a Part time Instructor of Psychology at BSU. She has a BA in Psychology, a M.Ed. in School Counseling 5-12, and an EdD in Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership from Northeastern University. Her work focuses on adult learning, adolescent emotional development, bullying, and digital use of children and teens. Dr. McCoy works with and trains K-12, undergraduate, and graduate students and consults in K-12 education.
Her work focuses on professional development of educators, social and emotional learning for secondary and college students, bullying, cyberbullying, and digital behaviors among children, teens, and college students. In working with the MARC program, she provides and conducts training, research, and consultation about bullying and cyberbullying prevention, recognition, and intervention for students, faculty, administration, and parents. Ms. McCoy has presented her work and the work of the MARC program at many state, regional, national, and international conferences. McCoy has also published work in peer reviewed journals.
Chamath Palihapitiya Founder and CEO, Social Capital
Chamath Palihapitiya is Founder and CEO of Social Capital, whose mission is to advance humanity by solving the world's hardest problems. Social Capital invests in and starts breakthrough companies in areas including healthcare, education, financial services and enterprise. Before founding Social Capital, Chamath was a member of the senior executive team at Facebook and a key driver behind its rise to become one of the most important and impactful companies in the world. Prior to Facebook, Chamath held leadership roles at Mayfield Fund, AOL and Winamp. He was born in Sri Lanka, grew up in Canada, and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo. Chamath is also Owner and Director of the NBA's Golden State Warriors.
Macon Phillips Chief Digital Officer, CARE USA
Macon Phillips is CARE USA’s Chief Digital Officer. As CDO he manages CARE’s global digital infrastructure, supports technologies in the field that multiply impact, and develops domestic and international online mobilization strategies.
Macon brings over a decade of experience at the intersection of technology, organizing, policy and politics. Before joining CARE USA, he served as the Coordinator of the Bureau of International Information Programs at the U.S. State Department, an Assistant Secretary-level position responsible for supporting public diplomacy efforts around the world.
After helping to lead the new media team on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign as its deputy director, Macon continued to the White House, serving as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Digital Strategy. In this role his team developed innovative and large-scale programs to connect Americans with their government, including massive online events and the development of We the People, an online petitions platform. Macon first came to Washington, D.C. to join Blue State Digital, where he worked with clients such as Senator Ted Kennedy, the Democratic National Committee and the Open Society Institute.
The Alabama native graduated from Duke University, served in Vermont as an Americorps*VISTA and now lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two sons.
John W. Rendon, Jr. Co-Founder and President of The Rendon Group
John W. Rendon, Jr. is Co-Founder and President of The Rendon Group, Inc. (TRG) a global strategic communications consultancy. To date, TRG has worked in or on 100 countries. Mr. Rendon has served as Executive Director and Political Director of the Democratic Party of the United States and has worked and led numerous campaigns at the federal, state and local level.
John Rendon is considered to be one of the world’s leading pioneers in the use of strategic communications as an element of national power and one of the first thought-leaders to harness the power of emerging technologies in support of real time information management. He has served as an executive communications consultant to the White House, U.S. Department of Defense, the National Security community and to the leadership of Fortune 500 companies, among others. He is a participant in forward-thinking organizations such as the Highlands Forum, the Aspen Institute and Dialog and is a lecturer and speaker at many forums and universities on the impact of emerging information technologies on the way populations think and behave.
In the National Security arena, Mr. Rendon has participated in the design and implementation of strategic communications initiatives and information programs related to operations, Odyssey Dawn (Libya), Unified Protector (Libya), Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Allied Force and Joint Guardian (Kosovo), Desert Shield, Desert Storm (Kuwait), and Desert Fox (Iraq) and Just Cause (Panama), among others. TRG also participates in counter narcotics programs and has worked in Haiti, Bosnia, and Serbia, among other austere environments. Furthermore, Mr. Rendon has collaborated on the development of comprehensive crisis and non-crisis information operations for political and public policy campaigns in the Americas, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East.
Mr. Rendon also lectures on topics including Global Power shifts, Leadership in the Knowledge Age; strategic communications development and implementation, information operations, information strategies, tactics and operations; crisis management and the American Presidency. He regularly lectures at the Defense Universities. He has lectured at such prestigious institutions as the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, Air War College (JFOWC and SJIOAC), American University, Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Boston University, Catholic University, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Federal Executive Training Institute, Foreign Service Institute, George C. Marshall Center, George Mason University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), among others.
Mr. Rendon, a graduate of Northeastern University, hails from Boston, where he served as an Assistant Secretary of Public Safety and later as a Special Assistant to the Governor. He has also served as an analyst for CBS News and has appeared as an analyst on BBC World Service television, BBC World Service radio, SKY Television and CNN, among others.
Becca Rutenberg Chief Operating Officer, the Novus Group
Becca is the Chief Operating Officer of the Novus Group, with a primary focus in municipal lobbying. She has a strong background in crisis communications, community process, government affairs and public relations support across many industry sectors. Becca works with clients in emerging industries to assist them in shaping public policy at the local level. Much of her work centers around medical and recreational marijuana policy.
Prior to joining the Novus Group, Becca worked for Cambridge City Councillor Leland Cheung. She played an instrumental role in crafting legislation relative to innovation zoning, land use, and telecommunications. In 2012, Becca was recognized as one of the nation’s leading female campaigners under age 30 for her efforts on the American Association of University Women's 'It's My Vote: I Will Be Heard!' campaign. Her work has been featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer, CNN, Seventeen Magazine, and several academic publications.
Becca is a graduate of Boston University with a Master of the Arts and Bachelor of the Arts in Political Science. A Magna Cum Laude graduate, she has her degree specialization in public policy implementation. Her honors thesis, Running in Heels: Evaluating Women Candidates for Office in the Age of Appearance, placed a heavy emphasis on survey methods and statistical analysis and was awarded university funding. She is originally from Philadelphia.
Keri Thompson Senior Lecturer, Department of Communication Studies, Emerson College
B.S. Bradley University
M.A. Pepperdine University
Keri Thompson is a Senior Lecturer at Emerson College and specializes in public speaking, politics and social media. She has extensive public speaking experience and has taught, coached and lectured on the subject at various schools and organizations across the country. She specializes in coaching and training political candidates. Her research specialties include nonverbal communication and image, political communication, social media, rhetoric and language. Specifically, her interests are in social media and politics, presidential rhetoric and campaign communication. She has been busy pioneering ways to use Snapchat in both the classroom and the political arena.
Keri was born in Boston and grew up in the suburb of Acton. After attending Acton-Boxborough public schools, she graduated with a BS in Speech Communication from Bradley University in Peoria, IL. While there she met an obscure State Senator named Barack Obama who convinced her to ditch her Republican roots and become a political activist. She continued her graduate education at Pepperdine University and the University of Texas at Austin, finishing with MAs in Strategic Communication & Rhetoric and Political Communication respectively.
Keri lives on the South Shore (in Cohasset) and can often be found near the ocean wearing a Red Sox hat and a "Free Brady Again" hoodie.
Christopher Tunnard Professor of International Business, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University
Christopher (Rusty) Tunnard teaches International Business at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and has recently been appointed the Hitachi Fellow for Technology and International Affairs. For many years, he was a principal at Arthur D. Little (ADL) in their Travel and Technology management consulting practice in Brussels and in London. He is a recognized expert on innovation and technology-led change in the international communications, travel, and financial service industries. In addition, Tunnard was a senior member of ADL’s Professional Development staff, and he created and/ or delivered a full range of skills courses in consulting and related business skills.
Prior to joining ADL, he directed worldwide strategy and technology partnerships for the Travel Division of American Express TRS Co. He has also run his own consulting firm and has owned and operated a hotel barge company in southern France. Professor’s Tunnard’s consulting background led to a particular interest in research at the nexus of resistance movements, new technologies, and social network analysis. His doctoral dissertation focused on the use of technology in the formation of resistance networks that eventually led to peaceful regime change in Serbia in the 1990s. Currently, he is looking at the roles that social networks and social media can play in building up institutions and civil society in countries that have used them effectively in bringing down long-time democratic dictatorships, most recently in Tunisia and Egypt. In addition, he is developing analytical methods to examine public and private social networks and their impact on organizations.
Dr. Tunnard holds MA, MALD and PhD degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and he received his AB from Harvard.
Robert Willington President, Swiftkurrent
Robert WIllington is a president at Swiftkurrent, a digital marketing company founded in 2009 that works in the political, corporate, and non-profit sectors. Prior to Swiftkurrent, Willington was Executive Director for RebuildTheParty, an organization dedicated to advancing the digital capabilities of the GOP and was Executive Director for the Massachusetts Republican Party. Rob was the digital consultant for the first Scott Brown for US Senate campaign, which was well known for its unique and aggressive approach to digital campaigning. Rob’s work has been featured in numerous national media outlets including Time Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, and The Washington Post. The 2011 hit marketing book, Killing Giants, profiled Rob and his guerrilla mobile marketing tactics deployed on the Scott Brown campaign. Rob has been a guest lecturer on modern political campaigns and has trained thousands of campaign activists through various workshops and seminars across the United States and Canada. Swiftkurrent has worked for numerous winning Senatorial, Congressional, and Gubernatorial campaigns and has advised the Conservative party of Canada.